The Veils Between Us
by TakatoMatsuda90
Summary: One-shot. Taichi & Yamato discover their friendship in the Digiworld. First fanfic attempt. Rated T for safety, only due to emotional themes.


_**Disclaimer**_: I do not own Digimon, partially or totally, in any way, shape or form. Bet you didn't know that.

_**Author Note**_: Hello all! This is my first attempt at a fanfic. This particular subject is probably so cliché and overdone to death.. but no matter, as the idea has been in my mind for years now and I finally got around to writing it down :-D Hope you like it despite the cliché, as I made great effort to delve into the characters' minds & feelings (I'd also have to mention that English is not my main language either, by the way). Please read and review! And be nice.. please don't just say "this sucks", but actually try to give me some feedback of what you did and did not like so I may keep it in mind for future stories. Well... with no further ado and no more excuses :-P, here's the story. Enjoy!

* * *

It had been a long day. The kids had spent the entire afternoon fishing at the seashore, and by sunset, they decided to set up camp in the same location, outside a spacious natural cave. They were all eager to enjoy the variety of fish they had collected.

A campfire was lit, and the kids gathered around, all of them clearly very tired. Izzy was busy on his laptop as usual, attempting to classify the different fish they had seen throughout the day. Sora just sat there, half-asleep, staring into the fire she lit herself. Mimi and Joe were idly chatting about school, their attention partially held captive by the intense radiance and warmth provided by the fire. Takeru wasn't hungry at all, as he had eaten some candy and fruits earlier, and he felt too exhausted to stay awake with the rest; he was now soundly asleep inside the cave alongside Patamon and Gabumon.

Matt was sitting cross-legged on the ground by the campfire, dozing and staring off into the distant horizon, his stomach grumbling in hunger. Earlier he had offered to stay in the cave along Takeru, but the little boy refused, instead requesting Gabumon to protect him. _"You don't have to be with me all the time, I can take care of myself! I'm not a baby!" Takeru yelled, as he ignored his brother's extended hand and grabbed Gabumon's soft paw instead._ "Takeru...," Matt now mumbled as he only paid attention to the crackling of the fire, lost in his thoughts.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Digimon were behind some nearby bushes, loudly munching on a pack of cookies the naughty Agumon had _borrowed_ from Joe's pack. Even though Joe and the rest could clearly hear the noise they made - the sound of powerful jaws crushing chocolate cookies was unmistakable, after all -, none of the kids had much energy to do anything about it.

"Well, let's get this done!" said Taichi in his usual loud, cheerful voice as he carefully walked towards the fire. In his hands he brought the bucket where they had stored the fish; it was heavy as a rock and Taichi couldn't contain an enormous sigh of relief once he put the bucket down. Upon doing so, he briefly looked at the absent-minded Sora and smiled heartily. It was far from the first time Taichi did this; he had long harbored secret special feelings for Sora.

Upset by hunger, Taichi hastily grabbed one of the fish and attempted to cook it in a rush, putting it directly into the scorching fire. The fish promptly bursted into flames and Taichi dropped it with a loud yelp, followed by the other kids' sounds of frustrated complaint.

"You big idiot, will you ever learn!? You're wasting our food!", growled a visibly exasperated Matt as he rapidly stood up and grabbed Taichi by the shirt. "Chill, Matt!" said a nervous Taichi, who felt too tired and hungry to fight anyway.

"You never seem to learn, do you?" said Matt as he sighed, released Taichi and began to cook the fish himself. Taichi just brushed it off and sat down with arms crossed, pretending nothing had happened, while occasionally looking at Sora. _'Sora...,'_ he said to himself as he subconsciously freed a smile.

A thought rushed through Matt's mind: Takeru! Taichi's silliness had made him forget about his beloved brother for a moment.

"Hey Sora," a serious Matt said, "can you take care of this? I need to check on Takeru."

"Uhhh wha- sure!" replied the startled Sora, as she quickly awoke from her stupor and avidly set the fish to cook.

"Thank you," Matt nodded, as he dashed off towards the cave.

Taichi was now fully staring at the unaware Sora, who was only focused on the fish. _'She's so lovely... her radiant face, so...' _Taichi thought while smiling. He was slowly but steadily developing great affection for Sora ever since they first met. He seemed to love everything about her, and as he got to know her better, stronger his love became; the pure, innocent first love of a child of his age. _'So gracious... so kind to everyone....' _He would often daydream while looking at her, and although he had not yet decided to hint her about it, he figured that day would eventually come and thus he wasn't very worried about it.

As thoughts kept flowing, however, a feeling of powerlessness progressively overtook him. _'If only I... if only... not such a coward....' _Even though he pretended nothing had happened, he was hungry and very exhausted, and the incident with Matt had finally thrown his emotional state out of balance. Further hopeless and negative thoughts rushed through his head, the smile on his face was erased, and soon, he felt the sudden urge to run. With some difficulty, Taichi managed to supress his wild emotions and stood up as calmly as he could fake it, walking off towards the nearby shore. The sky was getting dark already.

Taichi was able to control himself to an extent, and decided to sit down on the sand for a few minutes. His attempt of self-control was not sufficient, though; Taichi looked into the sea as confusion, sadness and negativity mildly permeated all of his thoughts about Sora, his secret crush. He then thought about his conflict with Matt and recalled memories of previous incidents with him.

_"Hey, Gabumon," a mischievous Taichi said, "Let me borrow your pelt to use as a blanket!" Gabumon gasped in shock as Taichi went on. "I've been dying to see what you look like underneath your pelt, tee hee hee... Let me see!", the grinning brunette said as he took hold of the shy Gabumon's pelt, who desperately attempted to break loose._

_Taichi's grin turned into sudden anger as he was shoved away by someone else. "Stop that, you idiot! Can't you realize that he doesn't like it?" the furious Matt cried out in Gabumon's defense. "But you didn't have to push me for it!", Taichi replied as the kids grabbed ahold of each other's shirt._

"Why?", Taichi asked to himself as he grabbed a handful of sand and threw it in no particular direction. He had always been in conflict with Matt, despite having deep respect and interest for the blond-haired boy. He was aware that Matt had a difficult family life, and even though he was but a kid, he could somewhat sense the effect it had on Matt's personality. He was genuinely interested in knowing more about Matt and becoming closer to him. He believed Matt and him could be great friends... Matt's attitude made it all harder for him, though, so Taichi felt often forced to pretend he didn't care that much about him in order to appear strong. Yet, as secretly as the crush he had for Sora, he knew he held a very deep hidden trust for Matt, and wondered if the blonde would ever correspond his feelings. The frustration of this desired friendship being pushed further away by every new incident with Matt had been slowly eating away at him; he buried his face in his hands as he pondered and realized this fact.

_'What am I doing...? I never act like this,' _Taichi went in an ephemeral instant of sanity. _'But I... I can't help it....'_

Matt walked into the cave and rejoiced as he caught a glimpse of Takeru's angelic smile. Takeru was peacefully sleeping along the curled-up Patamon, with his head resting on Gabumon's belly; the sleeping Gabumon seemed surprisingly happy about it. _'Takeru... I love you,' _Matt's inner voice whispered as he walked out of the cave with a renewed smile.

Alas, Matt's smile was soon gone as he saw Taichi's lonely sitting silhouette at the shore. He put his hands in his pockets - pretending he didn't care much, in case the others noticed him - and slowly approached the young brunette, sitting down to his left. After a brief but awkward silence, he spoke.

"Hey, what's wrong?" asked Matt in a false cold tone.

"..."

Only then Matt realized Taichi was sobbing.

Matt was very different, yet not unlike Taichi. His parents' divorce, and being separated from his beloved Takeru, made a strong impact on his development; he had to fend largely on his own, carrying such enormous emotional burden. The loneliness and grief arising from his broken family situation made him learn to bury his feelings and conceal them from others in order to protect himself. He became used to being the lone wolf, in absence of Takeru; his secretiveness was a valuable way of providing both solitude and the respect of other people, in such a way that nobody would attempt to inquiry him and thereby surface his emotional trauma. Through this he developed a personality completely different to that of Taichi, in the end.

There was something special, however, which Matt guarded and hid the most, and which would make him very similar to Taichi in a sense: his feelings for the young brunette. He always acted tough, cold and uncaring in front of others, and especially in front of Taichi, of whom he made a sport to pick apart and scold for his hot-headedness. Inside himself, though, he knew that he actually only wanted to get Taichi's attention; he also had developed a profound secret admiration for Taichi. Under the veil of toughness, Matt was actually very warm and attentive, as his relationship with Takeru so vehemently exposed; Takeru was his light and his biggest inspiration, and was what mattered the most to him. And despite everything else, Matt was certain that he could trust Taichi even with Takeru's life. He truly felt, he intuitively knew, that Taichi was indeed worth _that_ much. Yet, with his lack of social skills he did not know how to approach Taichi, and every time that he attempted to get his attention without lowering his veil of secrecy, they ended up arguing or fighting. He was not happy about this, and was unsure of how to proceed any further.

Now, though, Taichi seemed unusually gloom and it was clear that he needed support from someone. For Matt, it was the time to reveal what he truly felt about him. It was the time to lower the veil and open his heart.

_'Here we go,' _Matt thought, as he let go of a mental sigh and braced himself.

"What's going on, Taichi?" he said in a soft and kind tone, trying - and failing - to contain a blush.

_'Taichi..? He actually called me Taichi... he always calls me idiot... never my name... is he..' _Taichi rapidly thought, surprised by Matt's question. "I'm fine.. *sob*.."

Matt paused for a moment. He stared off into the deep blue sea, reflecting the starry night sky of the Digiworld. Taichi was once again astounded, this time by a gentle warm hand on his right shoulder; "You're crying, Tai... I know something's wrong. Please tell me...," Matt muttered slowly, his face red as a tomato.

Taichi couldn't believe it. He _really_ couldn't; could Matt truly care about him, having insulted and even punched him so many times before? He thought Matt was merely joking, but a trace of hope still remained within him. He would not lower his own veil completely so easily, though.

"It's all about Sora... I...*sob* I love Sora, Matt... I've loved her for so long... but I'm afraid that *sob*... how can I be a leader like this...? How, if I can't even be *sob* honest... show her my emotions...," Taichi babbled as tears ran down his face. He made his best effort to sob as silently as he could, for he did not want the other kids to hear him.

For a moment, Matt couldn't help but to have mixed feelings about what he had just heard. He, too, had a hidden crush for Sora, but he realized he was not nearly as obsessed as Taichi was. All that he knew was that he couldn't stand to see his 'secret friend' crying, and he would not allow a crush to destroy their potential friendship.

Yet, he also felt that there was something Taichi wasn't telling him...

He noticed the marine breeze was becoming colder. "Let's go into the cave, Taichi, or we might catch a cold here," Matt kindly said as he stood up. _'He...actually cares?'_ Taichi wondered as he absent-mindedly let Matt help him get on his feet and lead him into the cave.

Taichi slipped into his sleeping bag, with Matt sitting next to him. Taichi was lost in thought, and although he had ceased to cry, he had his eyes closed, hoping to forget what had occured and simply fall asleep. Matt for a minute also thought of what Taichi said earlier... and then smiled like only Takeru could make him do.

"Taichi," Matt looked directly into his eyes and whispered silently - he did not want to interrupt Takeru's slumber -, "what did you mean, 'how can I be a leader like this?'". Matt was already grinning, having read deeply into Taichi's thoughts.

The brunette did not want to appear so weak in front of Matt - or at least not yet. He sat up swiftly and began explaining. "I meant...," he paused as he tried to explain, "not having courage and... being unable... to show my true feelings to-" Tai stopped abruptly as he realized the meaning of what he had just said, and overcoming his typical bluntness, he connected it to what Matt had just said and done. It struck him like lightning; a tear of joy soon ran along his smiling child's face. He leaned over to Matt and rested his head on the blonde's shoulder as he cried and smiled; the shy Matt blushed as he hugged his friend Taichi for the first time, gently patting his head. As silent as their hidden feelings had ever been, both kids now also silently realized their emotions were reciprocal. They _were_ great friends, and they both knew it as they grinned and smiled at each other in joy. Taichi was once again cheerful, realizing that the actual cause of his sorrow was about Matt; the blonde basked in glee as he learned he wasn't alone and he _did_ have a friend.

And the veils that once stood between them were now gone...

_Forever._


End file.
